Evansville Knocks Off Bears

Visiting
Evansville knocked down a dozen 3-pointers, including a key triple by
Evan Kuhlman with just over a minute to go, to hand Missouri State a
70-64 Missouri Valley Conference setback at JQH Arena on Wednesday.

Tulio
Da Silva led the Bears (8-10, 2-3 MVC) with 14 points and 13 rebounds,
while Keandre Cook added 13 points for the home side.

Evansville
(9-9, 3-2 MVC) got a game-high 16 points from K.J. Riley and 11 more
from John Hall to pace the Aces’ first road win of the campaign.

The
Bears seemed to have things under control headed down the stretch,
using a close-range basket by Kabir Mohammed and a trey from Ryan
Kreklow – the 150th of his career — to lead
54-49 with 5:26 to play.

However,
the Purple Aces scored 11 points in the span of less than two minutes,
including a pair of threes from Hall and another by Devan Straub, to put
the visitors up, 60-56, with just over
three-and-a-half minutes remaining.

Jarred
Dixon got the Bears within 60-58 on a jumper from the elbow moments
later to halt the rally by Evansville. And when Cook went to the line
with a chance to tie the game at the 1:39 mark,
it appeared as if order was restored.

But Cook couldn’t connect on either free throw, keeping Missouri State in a two-point deficit.

The
Bears guarded the Aces down to the three-second mark on the shot clock
on their next possession before Evansville called a timeout. That’s when
Kuhlman launched in a long three from the right
wing as the shot clock expired to push UE ahead 63-58.

Cook
managed four points in the final 19 seconds of the game to keep hope
alive for Missouri State, but the visitors made 7-of-8 free throws in
the final minute to squelch MSU’s comeback plans
in a rare home loss by the bruins.

The
Bears finished the night 11-of-22 at the free throw line, missing four
chances at the stripe in the final two minutes of the game.

Coach
Dana Ford’s team out-rebounded Evansville by a 37-33 margin and
committed just eight turnovers for the game while forcing 17. The
difference came at the foul line and from long range where
the Bears finished just 3-of-16 (.188) from bonus distance.

Evansville
was 12-of-28 (.429) from 3-point range, including a perfect 3-for-3
night by Hall. UE also finished 20-of-45 (.444) overall from the field,
while connecting on 18-of-23 (.783) chances
from the charity stripe.

In
a tightly-contest first half, the Bears forced nine Evansville
turnovers and build a nine-point lead late in the opening period. A
triple by Ross Owens made it 27-18 with 6:46 left before
the break.

Later,
a monster dunk by Josh Webster ignited the JQH Arena crowd to give MSU a
29-22 advantage with just over two-and-a-half minutes on the clock. But
the visitors rallied in the final 79 seconds,
draining a pair of 3-pointers and a layup to retake the lead, 30-29, at
the midway point in the contest.

After
a road date with Drake on Sunday afternoon (3 p.m.) in Des Moines, the
Bears return to JQH Arena on Wednesday, Jan. 23 to play defending MVC
champion Loyola at 8 p.m. in a nationally-televised
game on CBS Sports Network.